1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object dispenser, and more particularly, to a dispenser that uses rotation around the dispenser""s axis of symmetry to eject cylindrical objects in any of several precise, predetermined patterns.
2. Description of the Background Art
An assortment of object dispensing devices have been used. Present devices that use rotation to eject objects, have been limited to sometimes only one object at a time. Even with one object, there has been a lack of control of the direction and speed. Some existing methods hold objects within a band or sleeve, then release the objects by breaking or sliding the band or sleeve from the objects. The bands and sleeves bunch the objects together, and do not positively control their orientation relative to one another or their container. Techniques used to break or remove the bands or sleeves produce random forces that cause the objects to leave the container in unpredictable ways, including random tumbling and chaotic trajectories that cause collisions between objects being released.
Another type of object dispensers had barriers that prevented emission of the projectile at the precise moment that it achieves its maximum speed. Complicated deploying mechanism have caused much problems in reliability and precision in releasing the objects from the dispenser.
An exemplar of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,086 issued to Rutten for A Rotor for Centrifugal Launching Devices. The device is designed to launch oblong shaped objects similar to conventional shells. A rotor with a cylindrical gun is rotated around an axis. The gun is located across the radius of the rotor. U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,655 issued to Tobin et al. for A Centrifugal Gun discloses a centrifugal gun that releases projectiles at very high velocities. The gun has a rotatable impeller with a center of rotation. The device fires a projectile by a track-controlled radial and tangential accelerations utilizing centrifugal force. U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,745 issued to Acker for A Device for Launching A Projectile discloses a device that has a rotatably driven carrier that has one or more guide tubes radially arranged. The feeding path for the projectiles are located near the rotational axis. U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,014 issued to Kahelin for A Variable Speed Single-Wheeled Ball Propelling Machine discloses a ball guided along the wheel until it is released tangentially along the circumference of the wheel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,508 issued to Kruse, et al. for A Spin Stabilized Carrier Projectile Equipped with A Driving Band discloses a carrier projectile that distributes the connection of the driving band and projectile object body so as to impart a spinning force. The rifling of the gun barrel causes the driving band to spin which in turn causes the projectile base to spin. The projectile body is then forced to spin by the force transmitted from the projectile base. U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,722 issued to Moody for A Projectile Launcher discloses a projectile launcher that has a barrel for supporting a projectile before and during the launch. The device uses a pulley system for stretching a rubber like material. The force created by the stretched rubber material accelerates the projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,723 issued to Hogan for An Elastic Band Slinger discloses an elastic band slinger that has an elongated base with an elongated guide track. An arrow shape projectile is positionable along the guide track for launching. The force of the band propels the projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,003 issued to Burri for A Projectile Rotating Band discloses a band that is secured to the projectile base. The rotating bands guide the projectile inside the barrel when it is discharged to cause a rotating motion around the longitudinal axis of the projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,206 issued to Gregory for A Rotating Launch Device for A Remotely Piloted Aircraft discloses an aircraft that is rotated around a circular path about a fixed pivot point until a predetermined speed is reached. The aircraft and a counterweight on the rotating arm are both released at the same time. The aircraft is forced in path tangent to the circular path at the point of release. U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,305 issued to Chiarelli et al. for A Subcaliber Projectile Including A Core, A Sabot And A Sleeve discloses a projectile that has a sleeve that separates into several sectors under the effect of centrifugal force. U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,389 issued to Sabranski et al. for A Carrier Projectile discloses a large caliber carrier projectile that has an ejector plate that separates into at least two separable parts because of the centrifugal force after ejection from the carrier projectile. The multiple segments of the ejector plate are held together by a vulcanization layer formed of materials like rubber. The centrifugal force breaks the ejector plate into the multiple segments. U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,990 issued to Rowe for Beehive Projectile discloses an anti-personnel ammunition capable of direct and indirect fire. U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,442 issued to Donadio for Serrated Supporting Keying System for a Beehive Projectile discloses a keying system for interlocking the components of a beehive type projectile by set back force generated by firing of the projectile. I have found that the art does not show a way to reliability and accurately eject objects through a rotational motion.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide cylinders that are ejected from a dispenser by being controlled accurately and precisely by machined components without bunching.
It is another object to have releasing forces that act parallel to the axis of each cylinder, minimizing off-axis force components that would disturb the cylinders"" natural trajectory.
It is another object to simultaneously release objects such as cylinders that are controlled by the characteristics and interaction of just two components making deployment reliable and precise.
It is yet another object to limit the motion of the deployment mechanism to engagement depth plus clearance dimension, minimizing the distance of actuation and thereby minimizing deployment time and cylinder misalignment (xe2x80x9ctip-offxe2x80x9d disturbance);
It is still another object to require no dunnage or packing material that could interfere with smooth cylinder motion during deployment.
To achieve the objectives of the present invention, there is provided a dispenser that uses rotation around the axis of symmetry of the dispenser to eject several cylindrical objects in any of many regular, predictable patterns. The dispenser includes a holding plate supporting a first side of an object, a nose plate supporting a second side of the object, an axle aligning the holding and nose plates, the holding plate, nose plate, and object rotating around the axle, and a firing unit when activated, releasing the holding plate along the axle away from the first side of the object and the nose plate being released away from the second side of the object, the object being released away from the axle when the holding plate and the nose plate releases away from the object. The dispenser rigidly holds the cylinders within a carrier vehicle as the vehicle accelerates to a high velocity. The dispenser is spinning about the axis of the dispenser at a high rate. Then on signal, the dispenser releases all of the cylinders simultaneously. Each one of the cylinders leaves the vehicle with the cylinder""s axis parallel to that of the dispenser and at each cylinder""s own tangential velocity.
A top tail plate may be placed above the dispenser plate and a bottom plate may be placed below the nose plate. A stopper plate made of honeycomb aluminum may be placed in between the top tail plate and the holding plate and another stopper plate between the bottom tail plate and the nose plate to absorb any impact from the motion of the holding plate and the nose plate. The mass of the holding plate assembly and the nose plate assembly is preferably the same.